DENVER – Utah State’s Jade Tarver and Denver’s Jessy Battelli have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, while Texas State’s Natalie Gardini has been named the WAC’s Goalkeeper of the Week for Oct. 22-28.

Tarver, a sophomore forward from Sandy, Utah (Jordan HS), scored the game-winning goal in Utah State’s 4-0 win against Louisiana Tech to capture its third-straight WAC regular season title. The sophomore scored the first two goals for Utah State to give the Aggies the No. 1 seed in the upcoming WAC tournament in Logan. Tarver was very efficient with two goals on two shots in the win. Tarver ended the regular season tied with Jennifer Flynn for the points lead with six goals and two assists for 14 points.

Battelli, a junior defender from Golden, Colo. (D’Evelyn HS), scored the fourth goal of her career on Friday afternoon, finishing a corner kick to give Denver a 2-1 lead over Idaho on her second career game-winning goal. Battelli played all 180 minutes for a DU back line that allowed a combined three shots on goal at Idaho and Seattle U this past weekend. 

Gardini, a junior goalkeeper from Austin, Texas (Westwood HS), earned her fourth shutout of the year on Sunday at UTSA in a 1-0 double-overtime win. Gardini had five saves, with all five coming from about eight yards in front of the goal. She came out of the goal to scoop up a loose ball on numerous occasions, preventing an unabated UTSA forward from gaining possession near the goal. The win marked the first time in the seven-year history between Texas State and UTSA that a Texas State goalkeeper has been able to shutout the Roadrunners.

Other offensive nominees included: Denver senior forward Kaitlin Bast … Idaho senior midfielder Erica Hart … New Mexico State sophomore forward Layla Todd …

Other defensive nominees included: Texas State senior defender Alissa Scott.

Other goalkeeper nominees included: Utah State senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Mulford.